Commissioner Elmquist Takes Oath Of Office

February 28, 1987|By JOHN GROGAN, Staff Writer

Newly appointed Palm Beach County Commissioner Carol Elmquist was sworn into office Thursday to the standing ovation of dozens of her fellow Republicans.

Elmquist, who leaves a staff position on the county`s Mini-Grace Committee to accept the post, sat with the five-member commission for the first time but did not have the opportunity to jump into any county business. The zoning matters before the commission Thursday were wrapped up before the noon ceremony.

Elmquist appeared slightly uneasy under the glare of television cameras as she took the oath of office administered by County Clerk John Dunkle. Her daughter and two sons sat nearby as she repeated the oath, then rushed to kiss and embrace her.

``I`m a little shy at this in the beginning,`` Elmquist told the crowd in a quiet voice. ``I hope I`ll become a little more adept behind the microphone, too.``

Her fellow commissioners had a gag gift ready: a package of maximum-strength aspirin to help with the headaches that accompany the job.

She delighted the predominantly Republican crowd in the commission chambers when she told them, ``I`m kind of excited because I don`t know when I`ve seen this many Republicans in this room before.``

Elmquist, who replaces Democrat Jerry Owens, joins Commissioner Ken Adams to narrow the Democrats` edge on the board to 3-2.

Owens announced his resignation Monday in the wake of his third drunken- driving arrest. He was arrested late Sunday night after he slammed a county-owned car into the back of a van on Congress Avenue, injuring himself and two others.

Elmquist`s appointment also makes Adams the only male on the board. Some are calling it the feminization of Palm Beach County government, and good-natured banter over the gender issue has been steady since her appointment was announced by Gov. Bob Martinez on Thursday.

``I`m delighted that now we`ll have a feminine point of view represented on the commission,`` Adams quipped during the ceremony.

Commissioner Karen Marcus earlier fired her own salvo.

``I just want to inform Commissioner Adams that we will be expanding the ladies room,`` she said.

But Chairman Carol Roberts found little amusement in what she said was a non- issue.

``I feel it is an irrelevent question,`` she said Thursday. ``What difference does it make if there`s four women or four men. We`re all capable people.``

She said she resented all the hoopla about the sexual makeup of the board, which was an exclusively male domain until 1976. ``If there was only one woman on the commission no one would be asking questions.``

Peggy Evatt broke sexual barriers in Palm Beach County elected government in 1976 when she was elected to the commission. In 1982, Dorothy Wilken was elected, and in 1984 Karen Marcus replaced Evatt.

Women were a majority on the commission for the first time in November 1986 when Roberts won election.